The Fermi is Earth’s first faster-than-light capable spaceship. It’s also its last. The moment its engines engage, it unleashes a shockwave that vaporises entire planets, entire solar systems. Fermi’s crew, the last surviving members of the human race, now find themselves circling an ancient Dyson sphere in a distant corner of the galaxy, where they must explore a city of ships and negotiate with a vast, lonely AI for their survival. But that isn’t their only problem. Because the Fermi’s engines are powering up again… What with all manner of real life events engulfing last year*, I made a conscious decision to reduce my reviewing output for a while. I took almost the entirety of December off to recharge my mental batteries, and now I’m back to the point where I am dipping my toe tentatively back into book reviewing waters. This week’s review is Dyson’s Fear, a new novella from Chris Farnell. I read Chris’ short story anthology, Dirty Work, way back in 2014 and thoroughly enjoyed it. His latest is a homage to classic science fiction with a quirky, modern twist. The crew of the Fermi are a rag-tag bunch of mildly odd souls. Samson is your typical…

“I don’t normally talk about work.” A call handler for an insurance company that offers out of this world cover, a broker of Faustian pacts, the best man at a doomed stag night, a PR consultant who’s way out of his depth, and a ninja: everyone has a job to do. Eight stories, eight people, eight jobs: some find their work takes them just beyond reality; for others, “beyond reality” is just another day at the office. A lot of us never quite manage to achieve our dreams when it comes to our careers. Rather than doing what we want to do, we do what we need to do in order to pay the bills, to get by and cover the basic necessities. When you’re a cubicle monkey like me, you wish for escape. Like Sam Lowry in Brazil, you dream about getting away from it all and never having to come back. This short story collection by Chris Farnell plays with the theme of work and how it makes us feel. The Broker – If you are going to make a deal with a devil it only makes a certain amount of sense to have professional available to ensure…